If you want to buy an ETF (exchange traded fund) or a stock online,� it is important to learn about market orders.� Unlike mutual funds, ETFs change their price throughout the day so you have to “trade” ETFs and place an order which will get the best price available at that time. Market order This […]
February 2009
The taxable status of an investment account refers to the whether any income earned in the account is taxable at the time of earning.� For example if you have a 401k (non-taxable) and your investment earns an interest payment or dividend payment then there will be no taxes paid on that payment.� On the other […]
Certificates of deposit (CDs) are a guaranteed investment where you pay a set amount for the CD and the bank will guarantee you will get your original money (principal) back when the CD matures plus a fixed interest rate which will never change.� Because you are agreeing to leave the money with the bank for […]
Roth IRA accounts are a very useful retirement savings plan.� All contributions to these accounts are made with money that you have already paid income tax on. No tax benefit is generated from the contribution, but the withdrawals can be tax-free. All earnings of any type are not taxed within the account.� This means that […]
Check out the introductory post on dividends if you haven’t already done so. If you own a stock that pays a dividend then you want the dividend to increase over time.� A $4 dividend now will not be worth much in 15 years because of inflation, so ideally the dividend increases should at least match […]
Stock symbols or ticker symbols are the codes you need to buy and sell stocks or exchange traded funds (ETFs).� If you want to make a purchase of an ETF or stock you would need to follow these steps.� This is assuming you already have a trading account and know the approximate name of the […]
A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job. The technical definition of a recession is when the GDP (gross domestic product) of a country contracts for 2 or more consecutive quarters (3 month periods).� What this means is that general economic activity is decreasing.� Less people […]
The gross domestic product or GDP of a country is a measure of the amount of economic activity in that country. Economists study the GDP numbers which are calculated quarterly to determine� the state of the country’s economy.� If the economy is doing well then the GDP should increase.� If the economy is not doing […]
